Cleavage-Site Motifs in Protein Targeting Sequences; G. von Heijne. Complications of RNA Heterogeneity for the Engineering of Virus Vaccines and Antiviral Agents; E. Domingo, J.J. Holland. The Quaternary Structures of SV40 Large T-Antigen and Tumor Suppressor p53; J.E. Stenger, et al. Assembly of Antibodies and Mutagenized Variants in Transgenic Plants and Plant Cell Cultures; A. Haitt, et al. Maize Endosperm Tissue as an Endoreduplication System; R.V. Kowles, et al. Study of Chlorate-Resistant Mutants of Arabidopsis; N.M. Crawford. Approaches and Progress in the Molecular Cloning of Plant Disease Resistance Genes; J.L. Bennetzen, J.D.G. Jones. Is GRP78 a Sensor of Cellular Secretory Activity? T. Leustek. The Molecular Biology of Pathogenesis in Ustilago Maydis; B.J. Saville, S.A. Leong. Molecular Design of Oligomeric Channel Proteins; A. Grove, et al. 5 additional articles. Index.

Award-winning researchers review of key aspects of DNA repair in a wide variety of organisms, including all-important model systems. The book focuses on DNA damage and repair in prokaryotic and model eukaryotic systems, emphasizing the significant progress that has been made in the past five years. Each chapter has undergone a rigorous peer-review cycle to ensure definitive and comprehensive treatment. Major topics include UV and X-Ray repair, repair of chemical damage, recombinational repair, mismatch repair, transcription-repair coupling, and the role of DNA repair in cell cycle regulation.

The field of epigenetics has gained great momentum in recent years and is now a rapidly advancing field of biological and medical research. Epigenetic changes play a key role in normal development as well as in disease. The editor of this book has assembled top-quality scientists from diverse fields of epigenetics to produce a major new volume on current epigenetics research. In this book the molecular mechanisms and biological processes in which epigenetic modifications play a primordial role are described in detail. The first seven chapters describe the different biological mechanisms of the epigenetic machinery including: DNA methylation, histone tails, chromatin structure, nucleosome occupancy, Polycomb group proteins, siRNAs and miRNAs. The following chapters cover the epigenetic systems of plants, the epigenetic profile of embryonic stem cells, cell differentiation, imprinting marks, and random X chromosome inactivation. Further chapters deal with epigenetics in relation to cancers, premature aging, longevity and the developmental origins of disease. The final chapter, describes the fascinating potential transfer of epigenetic information across generations. This up-to-date volume is a major resource for those working in the field and will stimulate readers of all levels to dive into the fascinating and fast moving field of epigenetics.

Over the last ten years the introduction of computer intensive statistical methods has opened new horizons concerning the probability models that can be fitted to genetic data, the scale of the problems that can be tackled and the nature of the questions that can be posed. In particular, the application of Bayesian and likelihood methods to statistical genetics has been facilitated enormously by these methods. Techniques generally referred to as Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) have played a major role in this process, stimulating synergies among scientists in different fields, such as mathematicians, probabilists, statisticians, computer scientists and statistical geneticists. Specifically, the MCMC "revolution" has made a deep impact in quantitative genetics. This can be seen, for example, in the vast number of papers dealing with complex hierarchical models and models for detection of genes affecting quantitative or meristic traits in plants, animals and humans that have been published recently. This book, suitable for numerate biologists and for applied statisticians, provides the foundations of likelihood, Bayesian and MCMC methods in the context of genetic analysis of quantitative traits. Most students in biology and agriculture lack the formal background needed to learn these modern biometrical techniques. Although a number of excellent texts in these areas have become available in recent years, the basic ideas and tools are typically described in a technically demanding style, and have been written by and addressed to professional statisticians. For this reason, considerable more detail is offered than what may be warranted for a more mathematically apt audience. The book is divided into four parts. Part I gives a review of probability and distribution theory. Parts II and III present methods of inference and MCMC methods. Part IV discusses several models that can be applied in quantitative genetics, primarily from a Bayesian perspective. An effort has been made to relate biological to statistical parameters throughout, and examples are used profusely to motivate the developments. Daniel Sorensen is Research Leader in Biometrical Genetics, at the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics in the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Daniel Gianola is Professor in the Animal Sciences, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, and Dairy Science Departments of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Gianola and Sorensen pioneered the introduction of Bayesian and MCMC methods in animal breeding. The authors have published and lectured extensively in applications of statistics to quantitative genetics.

The post-genomic era has brought new challenges and opportunities in all fields of the biology. In this context, several genome engineering technologies have emerged that will help deciphering genes function by as well as improve gene therapy strategies. Genomic modifications such as knock-in, knock-out, knock-down, sequence replacement or modification can today be routinely performed. However, in front of this large palette of methodologies scientists may experience difficulties to gather useful information's scattered within the literature. This book aims to present the state of this field from basic mechanisms of site-directed modifications to their applications in a wide range of organisms such as bacteria, yeast, plants, insects, mammals. It will discuss the problems encountered when using the random integration strategy and present the recent advances made in targeted genome modification. Technologies based on Zinc Finger nucleases, Meganucleases, TALEN, CRE and FLP recombinase, C31 integrase, transposases and resolvases are fully detailed with their strengths and weaknesses. All these information's will help students and experienced researchers to understand and choose the best technology for their own purposes.

Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants presents the current status of the elucidation and improvement of plant genomes of economic interest. The focus is on genetic and physical mapping, positioning, cloning, monitoring of desirable genes by molecular breeding and the most recent advances in genomics. The series comprises seven volumes: Cereals and Millets; Oilseeds; Pulses, Sugar and Tuber Crops; Fruits and Nuts; Vegetables; Technical Crops; and Forest Trees.

Forest trees cover one third of the global land surface, constitute many ecosystems and play a pivotal role in the world economy. Despite their importance in the economy, ecology and environment, genetic analysis and breeding efforts have lagged behind. Presented here are chapters on Populus trees, pines, Fagaceae trees, eucalypts, spruces, Douglas fir and black walnut, and a first-ever detailed review of Cryptomeria japonica. Innovative strategies to address the inherent problems of genome analysis of tree species are thoroughly discussed.

Building on a range of disciplines - from biology and anthropology to philosophy and linguistics - this book draws on the expertise of leading names in the study of organic, mental and cultural codes brought together by the emerging discipline of biosemiotics. The book's 18 chapters present a range of experimental evidence which suggests that the genetic code was only the first in a long series of organic codes, and that it has been the appearance of new codes - organic, mental and cultural - that paved the way for the major transitions in the history of life. While the existence of many organic codes has been proposed since the 1980s, this volume represents the first multi-authored attempt to deal with the range of codes relevant to life, and to reveal the ubiquitous role of coding mechanisms in both organic and mental evolution. This creates the conditions for a synthesis of biology and linguistics that finally overcomes the old divide between nature and culture.

In this new volume, renowned authors contribute fascinating, cutting-edge insights into microarray data analysis. Information on an array of topics is included in this innovative book including in-depth insights into presentations of genomic signal processing. Also detailed is the use of tiling arrays for large genomes analysis.

The protocols follow the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, offering step-by-step instructions, an introduction outlining the principles behind the technique, lists of the necessary equipment and reagents, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding pitfalls.

The field of the excitatory amino acids was born when L-glutamate and L-aspartate were found to be potent convulsants (Hayashi, 1954), and were subsequently found to excite neurons directly (Curtis, Phillis, and Watkins, 1959). Although these studies initiated the hypothesis of glutamate-mediated neurotransmission, it was noted that the ubiquitous actions of glutamate could also reflect a general, nonspecific property of glutamate on neuronal mem branes. It was not until 20 years later that pharmacological, physiological, and biochemical studies provided convincing evidence for a neurotransmitter role for glutamate in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). With the critical demonstration that the pharmacologically defined glutamate receptors mediate synaptic currents, glutamate rapidly became widely accepted as a majorneurotransmitter by the mid-1980s. This breakthrough, together with the simultaneous findings that glutamate receptors are involved in many essential, as well as pathological, processes in the CNS, instantly transformed the study of glutamate receptors into one of the fastest-growing and most exciting areas of neuroscience. With the cloning of numerous ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits over the last six years, the field has experienced another dramatic acceleration in the understanding of receptor action and in providing the first clear insights into the molecular bases underlying the wealth of pharmacological and physiological data on these receptors."

Reporter genes have played, and continue to play, a vital role in many areas of biological research by providing a ready means for qualitative and quantitative assessment of the activity of genes and location of gene products in different environments. This book describes practical protocols for experimentation with the most useful reporter genes for mammalian systems that are available.

Watson-Crick hybridisation of complementary sequences in nucleic acids is one of the most important processes necessary for molecular recognition in vivo, as well as nucleic acid identification and isolation. This book is devoted to a large family of in vitro DNA hybridisation-based experimental techniques. Several approaches, such as microarray hybridization, have become extremely popular tools for specialists in biochemistry and in biomedicine, while the potential of many other advantageous techniques seems to be currently underestimated. Written by an international team of authors, this book details the current state-of-art in hybridization techniques.

Early Thoughts on RNA and the Origin of Life The full impact of the essential role of the nucleic acids in biological systems was forcefully demonstrated by the research community in the 1950s. Although Avery and his collaborators had identified DNA as the genetic material responsible for the transformation of bacteria in 1944, it was not until the early 1950s that the Hershey-Chase experiments provided a more direct demonstration of this role. Finally, the structural DNA double helix proposed by Watson and Crick in 1953 clearly created a structural frame work for the role of DNA as both information carrier and as a molecule that could undergo the necessary replication needed for daughter cells. Research continued by Kornberg and his colleagues in the mid-1950s emphasized the biochemistry and enzymology of DNA replication. At the same time, there was a growing interest in the role of RNA. The 1956 dis covery by David Davies and myself showed that polyadenylic acid and polyuridylic acid could form a double-helical RNA molecule but that it differed somewhat from DN A A large number of experiments were subsequendy carried out with synthetic polyribonucleotides which illustrated that RNA could form even more complicated helical structures in which the specificity of hydrogen bonding was the key element in determining the molecular conformation. Finally, in I960,1 could show that it was possible to make a hybrid helix."

This volume covers the current knowledge base on the role of signaling and environmental pathways that control the normal development of germline stem cells, meiotic progression of oocytes, events of oocyte maturation and fertilization, and the birth of an embryo. Germ cells are uniquely poised to sustain life across generations through the fusion of oocyte and sperm. Because of the central importance of germ cells to life, much work has been dedicated to obtaining a clear understanding of the molecular and signaling events that control their formation and maintenance. Germ cells are set aside from somatic cells in the embryo and go through specialized meiotic cell cycles as the animal matures. These cell cycles are interspersed with long periods of arrest. In human females, meiosis I is initiated in the fetus. At birth, oocytes are arrested in meiosis I; after puberty, every month an oocyte initiates meiosis II - ovulation. Upon sperm availability these cells are fertilized, generate an embryo, and the cycle-of-life continues. During meiotic I progression and arrest, the fitness of oocytes and their progeny are likely influenced by environmental cues and signaling pathways. A lot of recent work has focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate oocyte fitness and quality in humans and vertebrates. Much of our understanding on the events of meiosis I and germline stem cell populations comes from work in invertebrates, wherein the germline stem cells produce oocytes continuously through adult development. In both inverbrates and vertebrates nutritional and signaling pathways control the regulation of stem cells in such a manner so as to couple production of gametes with the nutritional availability. Additionally, mature oocytes arrest both in meiosis I and meiosis II, and signaling and nutritional pathways have been shown to regulate their formation, and maintenance, such that despite long periods of arrest, the oocyte quality is assured and errors in chromosome segregation and varied cytoplasmic events are minimal.

In Epiblast Stem Cells: Methods and Protocols, expect researchers in the field provide a detailed collection of techniques and protocols useful to the study of the biology of the pluripotent epiblast. These include methods and techniques used to study epiblast development in different amniotes. This collection brings together contributions from the fields of embryology, stem cell biology and developmental biology together, providing a single volume with detailed procedures for the isolation and culture of epiblasts at different stages of development, and techniques for the study of differentiation into specific lineages. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, a complete list of the necessary materials and reagents, detailed laboratory protocols, and extensive notes providing suggestions on troubleshooting and how to overcome common difficulties. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Epiblast Stem Cells: Methods and Protocols serves as a resource to individuals interested in studying the biology of pluripotent cells.

Under the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey C. Hall and Dr. Jay C. Dunlap, Advances in Genetics covers all genetic systems-from prokaryotic to human-with an eye toward identifying emerging problems as they coalesce. Volumes present both synoptic and topical reviews in a comprehensible, informative, and insightful manner. Articles range from detailed and discursive to brief and sharply focused, as benefits the problem under study.
Founded in 1946 by Dr. Miloslav Demerc, this serial publication continues to be critical reading for researchers who need current overviews of areas outside their specialty and for students who need comprehensive introduction to topics genetic research.
Key Features
* Under new editorial direction beginning with this volume
* Publishes comprehensive and timely chapters of genetic
* Delves into genetic phenomena at a molecular level
* Ties together related issues in cell and developmental biology and neurobiology

Das Buch ist ein Leitfaden fA1/4r die tAgliche Arbeit in GynAkologie, Geburtshilfe, Neonatologie und bei der genetischen Beratung.
Das Autorenteam geht auf alle sich im Rahmen der nichtinvasiven und invasiven PrAnataldiagnostik stellenden Fragen ein. Besondere BerA1/4cksichtigung findet die sonographische Fehlbildungsdiagnostik.
DarA1/4ber hinaus vermittelt der vorliegende Band fundiert und umfassend, aber dennoch A1/4bersichtlich den neuesten wissenschaftlichen Stand des fachA1/4bergreifenden Gebietes der Humangenetik. In dieser Funktion ist es fA1/4r alle in Klinik und Praxis mit der Diagnostik genetisch bedingter Erkrankungen und der genetischen Familienberatung BeschAftigten ein wertvolles kurzgefaAtes Nachlesewerk.

Genetically Engineered Marine Organisms: Environmental and Economic Risks and Benefits provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of the environmental, economic, and regulatory implications of advances in marine biotechnology. The book has been specifically designed to bridge the gap between the rapidly advancing marine biotechnology industry and the government agencies that are responsible for risk assessment and regulation. Editors Raymond Zilinskas and Peter Balint have brought together experts in risk assessment, marine ecology, biotechnology, economics, and the law, to provide a unique way of examining complex issues in marine biotechnology. The contributors present innovative and challenging recommendations for protecting public health and the environment, while encouraging the development of beneficial new products in the field of marine biotechnology. As an added feature, each chapter includes a comprehensive, up-to-date bibliography. Genetically Engineered Marine Organisms: Environmental and Economic Risks and Benefits will prove invaluable to students, researchers and public employees involved with risk assessment. The book will appeal to industry personnel involved with the preparation of marine biotechnology products; scientists and administrators involved with applied research in marine biotechnology; policy analysts concerned with the economics of marine fisheries; and university personnel who focus on the interaction of risk, technology, and public policy.

Two of the more fascinating biological phenomena that have been d- covered in recent years are RNA editing and RNA interference. Each of these processes has been found in a cross-section of biological systems, including mammals, viruses, plants, and a range of model organisms (C. elegans,Dro- phila, and various lower eukaryotes). RNA editing, which results in an RNA product different from that predicted by the genome, occurs through a variety of mechanisms. Alterations can occur at either the base level, in which one base is changed to another (substitutional editing/base modification), or via the addition and/or deletion of nucleotides relative to the original template (insertion/deletion editing). RNA interference (RNAi) involves the specific degradation of targeted mRNAs. Although RNA interference, editing, and modification use different enzymes and mechanisms, the targets of each of these reactions are often specified by RNA molecules. Indeed, the discovery of guide RNAs (gRNAs) that direct nucleotide insertion and deletion in trypa- some mitochondria set the precedent for subsequent discoveries of the small nuclear RNAs (snoRNAs) that target pseudouridylylation and methylation of stable RNAs and the small double-stranded RNA fragments (siRNAs) that mediate RNAi. Other small RNAs are known to mediate translational regu- tion during development (small temporal RNAs [stRNAs]) and mRNA stab- ity (microRNAs [miRNAs]), and the recent identification of more than a hundred small "noncoding" RNAs has led to the realization that they may represent only the proverbial "tip of the iceberg.

The notion of matching diet with an individual's genetic makeup is transforming the way the public views nutrition as a means of managing health and preventing disease. To fulfill the promise of nutritional genomics, researchers are beginning to reconcile the diverse properties of dietary factors with our current knowledge of genome structure and gene function. What is emerging is a complex system of interactions that make the human genome exquisitely sensitive to our nutritional environment. Nutritional Genomics: The Impact of Dietary Regulation of Gene Function on Human Disease provides an integrated view of how genomic and epigenetic processes modulate the impact of dietary factors on health. Written as a resource for researchers, nutrition educators, and policy makers, this book contains the latest scientific findings on the mechanisms of action underlying diet-genome interactions. It presents a unique perspective on the fundamentals of nutritional genomics from genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Contributing authors introduce the important areas of cell signaling and transduction, the intricate regulation of gene expression, and alteration of gene-linked chronic diseases, such as obesity-induced inflammation, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The authors detail significant areas of interest within nutritional genomics-including plant-based foods as epigenetic modifiers of gene function and the effects of bioactive phytochemicals on inherited genotype and expressed phenotypes. They also discuss the role of vitamin D in various cancer risks and the gastrointestinal tract as a defense system. Given the key role played by agriculture and the food industry to produce foods to meet personalized health needs, the book also addresses agricultural breeding efforts to enhance nutritional value and the use of technology to increase bioactive ingredients in the food supply. The final chapters discuss manufacturing practices and novel processing techniques for retention of nutrients and bioactive components, as well as the need for regulatory oversight and proper labeling to establish assurance of safety and benefit. An excellent resource for this exciting field, the book identifies future directions for research and opportunities for improving global health and wellness by preventing, delaying, or mitigating chronic diseases with diet.

This important book traces the history of genetics and genomics policy in Britain. Detailing the scientific, political, and economic factors that have informed policy and the development of new health services, the book highlights the particular importance of the field of Public Health Genomics. Although focused primarily on events in Britain, the book reveals a number of globally applicable lessons. The authors explain how and why Public Health Genomics developed and the ways in which genetics and genomics have come to have a central place in many important health debates. Consideration of their ethical, social, and legal implications and ensuring that new services that are equitable, appropriate, and well-targeted will be central to effective health planning and policymaking in future. The book features: Interviews with leading individuals who were intimately involved in the development of genetics and genomics policy and Public Health Genomics Insights from experts who participated in a pair of 'witness seminars' Historical analysis exploiting a wide range of primary sources Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be of interest to those involved in the research and practice of genetics, genomics, bioethics, and population health, but also to NHS staff, policymakers, politicians, and the public. It will also be valuable supplementary reading for students of the History of Medicine and Health, Public Health, and Biomedical Sciences.

As imaging technologies and approaches have evolved, the scope of certain imaging techniques has moved far beyond the production of purely illustrative images or appealing time-lapse movies to providing the scientist with a rich range of ways to measure and quantify the biological process and outcome of gene expression. In Imaging Gene Expression: Methods and Protocols, expert authors offer up-to-date approaches and protocols that scientists in the field have developed, which would benefit the broader scientific community. Divided in three convenient parts, this detailed book covers the output of a gene, namely the RNA molecules that are transcribed from the gene and the way by which these molecules can be tracked or quantified in fixed or living cells, protocols that focus on the gene, DNA, or chromatin, as well as a variety of ways by which nuclear processes intertwined with gene expression can be followed and quantified in living cells as well as approaches for studying several sub-nuclear structures found in eukaryotic cells. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective subjects, lists of materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and up-to-date, Imaging Gene Expression: Methods and Protocols will serve researchers working toward imaging in the context of complete organisms.

Tropical climates, which occur between 23 Degrees30'N and S latitude (Jacob 1988), encompass a wide variety of plant communities (Hartshorn 1983, 1988), many of which are diverse in their woody floras. Within this geographic region, temperature and the amount and seasonality of rainfall define habitat types (UNESCO 1978). The F AO has estimated that there 1 are about 19 million km of potentially forested area in the global tropics, of which 58% were estimated to still be in closed forest in the mid-1970s (Sommers 1976; UNESCO 1978). Of this potentially forested region, 42% is categorized as dry forest lifezone, 33% is tropical moist forest, and 25% is wet or rain forest (Lugo 1988). The species diversity of these tropical habitats is very high. Raven (1976, in Mooney 1988) estimated that 65% of the 250,000 or more plant species of the earth are found in tropical regions. Of this floristic assemblage, a large fraction are woody species. In the well-collected tropical moist forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama, 39. 7% (481 of 1212 species) of the native phanerogams are woody, arborescent species (Croat 1978). Another 21. 9% are woody vines and lianas. Southeast Asian Dipterocarp forests may contain 120-200 species of trees per hectare (Whitmore 1984), and recent surveys in upper Amazonia re corded from 89 to 283 woody species ~ 10 cm dbh per hectare (Gentry 1988). Tropical communities thus represent a global woody flora of significant scope.

Our current knowledge of marine organisms and the factors affecting their ecology, distribution and evolution has been revolutionised by the use, in the last 20 years, of molecular population genetics tools. This book is the result of a meeting of world-leading experts, in Rio de Janeiro, where the state of the art of this field was reviewed. Topics covered include the molecular analysis of bio-invasions, the recent developments in marine biotechnology, the factors affecting levels of genetic variation and population structure in marine organisms and their application to conservation biology, fisheries and aquaculture. This is the first book dedicated to the genetic study of marine organisms. It will be very useful to biology students, scientists and anyone working or simply interested in areas such as marine biology, zoology, ecology, and population and molecular genetics.

This thesis outlines the development of the very first technology for high-throughput analysis of paired heavy and light-chain antibody sequences, opening an entirely new window for antibody discovery and the investigation of adaptive immune responses to vaccines and diseases. Previous methods for high-throughput immune repertoire sequencing have been unable to provide information on the identity of immune receptor pairs encoded by individual B or T lymphocytes. The author directly addresses these limitations by designing two new technologies for sequencing multiple mRNA transcripts from up to 10 million isolated, single cells. The techniques developed in this work have enabled comprehensive interrogation of human B-cell repertoires and have been applied for rapid discovery of new human antibodies, to gain new insights into the development of human antibody repertoires, and for analysis of human immune responses to vaccination and disease.

This book presents up-to-date information on foxtail millet genomics, with a particular focus on its agronomic importance, genome architecture, marker development, evolutionary and diversity studies, comparative genomics and stress biology. The topics discussed have the potential to open up a new era of crop improvement in foxtail millet and other related grass species. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is the oldest domesticated crop in the world (domesticated >8700 years ago) and it has been extensively grown in the semi-arid regions of Asia, Europe and the Americas as a food and fodder crop ever since. Further, as a C4 crop with close genetic relatedness to several biofuel grasses, foxtail millet has been promoted as a model plant. In view of its importance, the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and Beijing Genomics Institute have independently sequenced the genome of foxtail millet. The availability of the draft genome sequence has advanced the genomics and genetics of this important crop, resulting in the development of large-scale genome-wide molecular markers and demonstration of their utility in genomics-assisted breeding, as well as the identification of the molecular and biological roles of several stress-responsive gene families in connection with abiotic stress tolerance. In addition, several open access databases have been developed to make these resources for crop improvement through structural and functional genomics widely available.